


Don’t Be a Fool

by samos7



Series: Mistrust [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Gen, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Post-Spider-Man: Far From Home
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-01
Updated: 2019-12-01
Packaged: 2021-02-26 17:47:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21622429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/samos7/pseuds/samos7
Summary: Mr. Stark was alive, he was moving, talking, breathing, and at the end of the day, that’s all Peter could ever truly ask for. He was going to tell Tony as much until the unwelcome yet not uncommon voice echoed in his ears, sounding identical to Quentin Beck.‘Maybe this is too good to be true.’Peter’s grin was quick to disappear, and just like that, the mood was broken.‘Do you even know what’s real?’That might be what terrified him the most, the fact that he didn’t.—Or, AU where everything from Far From Home is the same except Tony was in a coma
Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: Mistrust [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1562758
Comments: 16
Kudos: 267





	Don’t Be a Fool

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is the first fanfiction I’ve ever written so I apologize in advance if there are any inaccuracies or if anyone seems out of character. Please enjoy!

Tony Stark woke from his coma at 5:21 AM.

When Peter first heard his phone ringing, he automatically assumed the worst. The doctors had lost faith in Tony ever waking months ago, yet Pepper had refused to lose hope, keeping him in the hospital and visiting regularly along with Peter. At this point it had been nine months since Tony reversed the snap. The world now saw him as a hero, a martyr despite not being officially dead.  
  
When Peter learned that Tony was not only awake but asking for him, he fell to his knees and sobbed.  
  
When Peter saw Tony laying in the hospital bed twenty minutes later, one arm less but eyes shining and focused, he fell to his knees and sobbed some more.  
  
That had been exactly a week ago, Peter had been overcome with the feeling of joy and happiness, thanking the world for doing him this one favor.

Then, Parker Luck took strike yet again, and his identity was revealed to the world.  
  
Now he didn’t know what to feel.  
  
Currently, Tony, Pepper, and Rhodey surrounded the living room of the lake house, in the middle of a seemingly heated discussion. Peter was shocked to see Colonial Rhodes join as quickly as he did, assuming that he would have been too busy to handle Peter’s mess.  
  
Happy and May were currently in charge of taking care of Morgan and keeping her away from the chaos. Peter was grateful that both May and Morgan weren’t alone, having Happy to watch over and keep them protected. (Though he would never say it out loud, the selfish part of him was also thankful May wasn’t here with him, at least in this moment. He didn’t think he could handle seeing the inevitable look of disappointment on her face).

“They shared and broadcasted the information of a minor, Spiderman or not that’s an easy lawsuit, not even the Daily Burge could manage to get away with that.”  
  
Peter was aware that he should be paying attention to what was going on in front of him, given the fact that he was clearly the topic of discussion, but listening would mean acknowledging the situation and he wasn’t quite ready for that.

_You were never ready for any of this._

He attempted to ignore the voice in his head by picking at a hangnail.  
  
“The public doesn’t even know about Tony’s survival, surely we can use that as some form of distraction.”  
  
Peter was sitting alone on the couch, hands fidgeting and legs refusing to stay put. They were bouncing up and down to the point where he distantly wondered if he was creating a dent in the very expensive looking, wooden floor.  
  
“Distraction or not, we’re still going to have to set up a press conference, or at the very least an official statement. And the sooner that’s done, the better. We all know from experience how quickly gossip and rumors spread if they’re not addressed.”  
  
“The kid is not participating in any press conference, those reporters are _vultures_ -”  
  
“ _You don’t think I know that, it’s not like we have a choice_.”  
  
“ _He’s so young and he doesn’t have any experience with media, they’ll eat him alive-_ He’s just a kid, practically a baby compared to the other Avengers.”  
  
As if snapped out of a trance, Peter sat up and spoke for the first time. “What if we use the Baby Monitor Protocol, we could pull out some of the footage for proof... I don’t know who we’d send it too though.”  
  
There was silence for a few seconds, everyone thinking through the possible flaws and drawbacks of the makeshift plan. Before the silence swallowed him whole, Tony voiced his apparent thoughts, his gaze leaving Peter and turning to Colonial Rhodes.  
  
“Rhodey what have I been telling you, the kid is brilliant.”  
  
Rhodey responded with a startling laugh. “It’s not like I’ve ever tried to correct you Tones.”  
  
Thankfully, Pepper interrupted the tangent before Peter could fully process the pride and sentiment that went with those words.  
  
“Peter, you didn’t happen to install a Baby Monitor Protocol when you were making your new suit, did you?”  
  
 _Of course you didn’t._ _  
_ _  
_“It didn’t cross my mind at the time” Peter admitted, hating how small his voice sounded.  
  
Peter thought for a second, his mind going back to the jet ride, with the engraved memory of stitches on his back and blood matting his face. With guilt and grief and _pain_ overtaking him until Happy found him hours later. At the time he wasn’t focused on the details of his new suit, he was only thinking of the problem at hand and how he had to _fix it_.  
  
Pepper continued on, not missing a beat. Peter mentally forced himself to snap out of it. “What suit were you wearing before the battle of London? If it was made by Tony then it definitely has footage to review.”  
  
This time there was an uncomfortable pause. Peter stared down at his feet before speaking, willing his voice not to shake this time. “I was wearing the stealth suit for most of the trip, but I’m not sure if Mr. Stark was the one who designed it.”  
  
Out of the corner of his eye he saw Tony visibly perk up, making Peter assume that _of course_ he was the one who made the stealth suit. “Perfect, I’ll pull up the baby monitor footage and from there we can decide what we want to share with the public. Peter’s right, there has to be some form of evidence we can use against Beck.” Tony’s voice was laced with faux confidence and Peter had to bite his lip in order to hold back his tears.  
  
Suddenly, Peter was off the couch, not fully realizing he stood up to begin with. On his way up, his knees hit the table with a loud bang, causing his legs to buckle and a cup to fall over. He willed his feet to stick to the ground and maintain his balance. From there, the startling realization that he couldn’t handle any of this almost made him sit right back down. There was no way he could watch the baby monitor footage without going into a full blown panic attack. He already had nightmares over Beck’s illusions. 

Every night he would restlessly fall asleep only to wake May up a few hours later through screams of terror, no matter how hard he tried to hold them back. Then there were the heart-wrenching sobs that always came shortly afterwards (he couldn’t decide which was more embarrassing). From there, May would rush to his bedroom like clockwork and lay by his side, whether that be at the edge of the bed or the cold, hard floor, holding Peter close until he was back in the present.  
  
Peter wondered, not for the first time today if this was yet another nightmare, another illusion. He’s been continuously in question of whether the past week has been real to begin with. There was the likely chance that Tony was still in the hospital wing, still in a coma with wires and tubes and the haunting beeping sound of the heart monitor that never failed to ring in Peter’s ears, even when he was out of the room and across the hall. What if Peter had fallen for Beck’s tricks yet again. What is he was still being a fool, a _sucker-_  
  
Suddenly there were callused hands on his shoulders, pulling him back to reality. For a moment he assumed it was Happy, grounding him like he did on the jet, but when he looked forward all he saw was Tony, staring at him with wide, unfiltered eyes.  
  
“Pete, buddy, you need to breathe.”  
  
Was he not breathing? Peter took a gasp for air and came to the conclusion that, oh, he was not breathing.  
  
“That’s it, just like that, good job kiddo.”  
  
Tony kept physical contact for longer than necessary, continuing to utter mindless praises that made Peter feel immensely grateful. He closed his eyes and let himself feel the pressure of Tony’s hand, now lighting brushing his cheek. Peter felt himself leaning into the touch, not bothering to feel embarrassed because _he’s missed this so much_. He willed his hearing to focus in on Tony’s heartbeat, hammering faster than usual, but beating nevertheless. He allowed himself to enjoy the moment, just this once, even if it ended up being another illusion. 

When Peter finally opened his eyes, Tony gave him a small, timid smile, looking at him with a combination of concern, relief, and another emotion he couldn’t identify.  
  
“All good?” Tony asked in a soft tone, making Peter’s heart feel warm and fuzzy. He absently wondered if Tony ever spoke to Morgan that way.  
  
At this point, all Peter could do was nod.  
  
Pepper’s voice was the first to break the silence, bringing Peter yet again back to reality. “Sweetheart, maybe you shouldn’t be here when we watch the footage.”  
  
The warmth Peter was feeling was quickly replaced with dread and humiliation, causing his cheeks to burn up. Right, they have to watch Beck’s illusions, they have to watch Peter fall for it, over and over and over again.  
 _  
_ _It’s easy to fool people when they’re already fooling themselves._  
  
He silently chided himself for acting the way he was, this was literally his idea. Peter squeezed his eyes shut, this time steeling himself for the inevitable. All at once, mantras of ‘ _fix your mess, whatever it takes, your fault’_ berated his thoughts not for the first time since he’s become Spiderman. Peter knew that there was no time to be afraid (there never was).  
  
“Kid?”  
  
Tony’s voice was laced with worry, and just like that Peter was hit with a wave of guilt. Tony just woke up from a goddamn coma and he was already dealing with Peter’s shit show. He and Pepper should be spending time with their actual child, not some random kid from Queens with PTSD and daddy issues.  
  
“Peter?” he tried again.  
  
“Mr. Stark, I am so sorry.” It came out as a whisper, like he was sharing a dark secret. Tony’s face went from sympathetic to incredulous in a blink of an eye.  
  
“Nuh uh, none of that.” His tone implied that there was no room for argument, like that has ever stopped Peter before.  
  
“But I am.”  
  
“Zip it kid, you’re the last person who needs to apologize, and I promise you won’t convince me otherwise.” Peter opened his mouth to refute but he was unable to get a word out.  
  
“There better not be another apology out of your mouth or I’m personally destroying all of your birthday presents.”  
  
The statement was announced with a hint of challenge, clearly ridiculous given the current context and predicament they were in. It took Peter a moment to recognize it as a distraction, a comment meant to get Peter out of his head.  
  
“But it’s not even my birthday.”  
  
“Ah but it’s coming up.” Tony winked before continuing, “and it’s never too early to prepare.”  
  
“You would know, given that you’ve had _so many_ birthdays of your own.”  
  
Tony placed his hand to his heart, mocking offense. “Watch that attitude kid. Hasn’t May ever taught you to respect your elders?” Despite everything, Peter found himself smiling.  
  
Peter didn’t need any materialistic gifts. Mr. Stark was alive, he was moving, talking, _breathing_ , and at the end of the day, that’s all Peter could ever truly ask for. He was going to tell Tony as much until the unwelcome yet not uncommon voice echoed in his ears, sounding identical to Quentin Beck.  
  
 _Maybe this is too good to be true._  
  
Peter’s grin was quick to disappear, and just like that, the mood was broken.  
  
 _Do you even know what’s real?_  
  
That might be what terrified him the most, the fact that he didn’t.  
  
“Sorry” was all Peter responded with, his voice falling back to a whisper. Tony gave him a small sigh.  
  
“That’s okay, we’ll work on that later... why do you go outside and take a breather, yeah? Maybe the fresh air will do you some good.  
  
Peter nodded and glanced over at Pepper and Rhodey before walking out. He attempted to offer them a smile but he’s pretty sure it came out as more of a grimace.  
  
“When we’re done looking through all the footage I’ll come out and grab you, so don’t go too far.”  
  
Mr. Stark’s voice sounded so steady, so certain that everything would be okay. Peter tried to believe him.  
  
 _Don’t be a fool._  
  
~~~

Peter sat at the edge of the dock, staring out at the lake in front of him. He wasn’t sure how much time has passed since he left the living room, could have been minutes, could have been days. He focused in on the water tickling his feet, wondering what would happen if he dived fully in. He thinks he would have done exactly so if he actually knew how to swim.  
 _  
__Lake or land, you’re already drowning._  
  
Eventually, he heard footsteps approaching. He knew it was Tony without needing to turn around.  
  
“Care if I join you, kiddo?”  
  
Instead of verbally responding, Peter shifted to the side, making room for Tony to sit next to him. Tony copied the way Peter situated himself, legs hanging off the dock and shoulders almost touching one another.  
  
“Hey Mr. Stark, do you know how to swim?”  
  
The question seemed to surprise Tony, but he went along with it after a moment of consideration.  
  
“Yeah, I mean I’m no Michael Phelps but I can keep myself afloat and all the good stuff... would you like me to teach you sometime?”   
  
“If you don’t mind.”  
  
“Of course I don’t mind.”  
  
No words were exchanged after that, the only sound being produced was the rush of stream below them. It took a minute or two for Tony to speak once again.  
  
“Pete, we need to talk about the baby monitor footage.”  
  
“How much of it did you watch?” He mentally cringed at his voice, hating how he sounded exactly like the scared child he was.  
  
“All of it... when Happy gave us the rundown on what happened in Europe I knew it had to have been bad, but I didn’t think- I didn’t know it was _that bad_ .”  
  
“I mean it could have been worse, I have this uh, this sixth sense that tells me when there’s danger coming, it helped me decipher what was real and what was not... or at least in the end it did.”  
  
Tony thought for a moment before continuing his part of the conversation. “Like a spider sense?”  
  
“Yes, exactly like a spider sense! May actually calls it a Peter Tingle.”  
  
Tony barked out a laugh. “Forget spider sense, Peter Tingle is a thousand times better- hey do you think we could trademark that? What am I saying, of course we can, I’m Tony Stark.”  
  
“We are not trademarking Peter Tingle, I absolutely refuse.”  
  
“You act as if you have a choice in the matter.”  
  
Peter voices the first thought that pops in his head before thinking of the implication, completely missing the mark on light banter.  
  
“That’s fine, I haven’t really been good with choices anyhow.”  
  
And just like that, the atmosphere was back to somber. He scolded himself for letting his emotions get the best of him. A combination of rage and desperation consumed Peter in a matter of seconds.  
  
“Mr. Stark, I really messed up.”  
  
Peter refused to look at Tony now, even when he fiercely spoke in his defense.  
  
“Don’t be ridiculous, reviewing that footage was like watching something straight out of a horror film-“ Peter was quick to interrupt, not wanting to be reminded of the illusions.  
  
“I gave him EDITH.”  
  
A beat of silence.  
  
“Edith?”  
  
“Yeah, you know the glasses you made for me- well maybe not solely for me, but there was a note with your name and handwriting so I kinda just assumed... the glasses were extremely well made by the way, I never got to thank you.”  
  
Recognition suddenly dawned on Tony.  
  
“Oh EDITH! Pete, you weren’t supposed to receive her until I was actually dead- which hopefully will be many years down the line. Wow, I put that in my will years ago, I barely remember making those glasses.”  
  
“My name is in your will?” Peter’s brain short circuited at that.  
  
“Of course it is, don’t act so surprised- and close your mouth, you’re gonna catch flies.” He studied Peter’s face with a smirk. “You know, I’m starting to wonder if I should be offended by this reaction.” Peter didn’t acknowledge the attempted joke.  
  
“But that doesn’t make any sense, I mean- Mr. Stark, I was gone for five years.”  
  
That clearly wasn’t the right thing to say, given the Tony’s face closed in with emotion, eyes looking almost haunted.  
  
“Hey buddy, how about we avoid mentioning that for a little while... or preferably ever again. You know I have my heart problems.”  
  
“Oh” was Peter’s only response.  
  
Another beat of silence.  
  
“So why did you give EDITH to Beck?”  
  
There was no judgement in Tony’s voice, just pure curiosity with the need to see the full picture. Maybe that’s what made Peter share it all. Either that or the crushing feeling in his chest that only seemed to get worse with time.  
  
“So there was this school field trip I was on, where we were suppose to visit all these different countries and eat exotic foods and just have an overall good time, you know. And I had this big plan to win over this girl I like, her name is MJ, have I told you about her? She was one of the people who got blipped- but that’s not important anymore... I guess with all the superhero stuff going on with Spiderman and Thanos and- and you, I just wanted to have a normal vacation, which sounds so stupid and whiny when I say it out loud. But then there were these elementals attacking us and it was really scary, but Mysterio saved the day so it was cool. And then I tried to tell Fury that I didn’t want to be involved in the mission- the next one to stop the new elemental- because I had this _stupid field trip_ , but that didn’t really work out. He kinda just hijacked the trip in response which was fine, it was for the greater good or whatever, but when we were fighting in the next attack, I don’t know, Beck just seemed really brave and capable, and he reminded me _so much of you_. I guess I thought, hey, even if you never woke up again, the world would still be in good hands. I wasn’t ready to- I just wasn’t ready, so I gave him EDITH.”  
  
Peter took a deep breath, hoping that Tony didn’t notice the way he voice shook. He clenched his fingers into fists to try and camouflage the way his hands were trembling. Finally, he found the courage to properly face the man sitting next to him.  
  
“Mr. Stark, I can’t even begin to express how sorry I am.”  
  
For once in his life, Tony Stark was speechless. Eventually, however, he found his voice.  
  
“Alright, you are never allowed to say the word ‘sorry’ again. I’m serious, officially nix it from your vocabulary, I don’t want to hear another apology from you.” Peter’s heart sank at that.  
  
“Please don’t be too mad at me.”  
  
“Are you out of your goddamn mind, _no Peter_ , I’m not mad at you, not in the slightest. I will however, offer you two new names on my hit list, _Nick Fury and Quentin Beck_.”  
  
From all the time Peter has known Tony, he can’t remember ever seeing him this furious. Rage and hatred seemed to radiate off of him, and though the logical part of Peter’s brain recognized that it was not directed toward him, he couldn’t help himself from flinching back. Tony immediately softened at that, anger transforming to regret.  
  
“Hey, hey, hey I’m sorry kid, I- I’ll calm down, I promise. It’s just a lot to unpack, that’s all.”  
  
Peter swallowed down the new apology on the tip of his tongue, turning his attention back to the lake. He assumed the conversation was coming close to an end until Tony spoke once more.  
  
“Pete... I need you to look at me kiddo, can you do that for me?”  
  
As if he could ever say no to Tony.  
  
“You need to understand that you’ve done absolutely nothing wrong. On the contrary, you’ve been _amazing_. None of this is your fault, and I’m sorry that you were ever under the impression that it was. But you don’t have to carry around all this guilt anymore, okay? Not with London and definitely not with my coma.  
  
 _If you were good enough, maybe Tony would still be alive._  
  
That was the moment Peter officially broke, not bothering to hide his tears.  
  
Tony’s arms were quick to wrap around him, offering the comfort he desperately needed. He felt fingers begin to comb through his hair, only making him sob some more. He savored the small show of affection, hoping to never lose it again. Peter began to speak through his wails, not fully aware of what he was saying.  
  
“I think the worst part of it all is that after all this time, I still don’t know what’s real and what’s not. And- and if this ends up being another illusion it’s going to ruin me. I can’t- I thought you were dead Mr. Stark, _you were dead and I just really missed you_.”  
  
He vaguely registered Tony crying as well, hugging him tighter and choking out words that were barely coherent, but Peter understood them nevertheless.  
  
“I know kid, I know, I’ve missed you so much.” Peter felt a quick peck on his temple.“There’s no one as good as you kiddo, _no one_ , you’re the best of all of us... God Pete, these past five years have been unbearable without you.”  
  
That didn’t make sense to Peter. “But you have Morgan.”  
  
“Don’t get me wrong, I love my daughter more than life itself, but the exact same could be said for you. Don’t act as if she’s a replacement, you and I both know that’s not true.”  
  
With that, Peter made a sound that could only be described as animalistic, clinging to Tony like a lifeline. Tony continued on, not seeming at all bothered by their lack of personal space.  
  
“I love so much Peter, and I’m sorry I was never good at expressing it in the past, but we can make up for lost time now, yeah? You’ve done excellently on your own, but you still have people by your side. You just need to allow us to help you- I promise we all want to, Pepper, Rhodey, May, hell even Happy, though I don’t think he’d ever admit it out loud… We’re going to fix this, I can assure you that.”  
  
“I still don’t know if this is real...” Peter spoke the confession in a hushed voice, as if he were ashamed.  
  
“We’ll fix that too, I promise. Everything is going to be okay.”  
  
And at last, Peter finally believed him.

There was still a lot of work to do, and nothing was by any means solved. But Tony was here, and that was all that really mattered. There was a new feeling of hope that wasn’t there before, and Peter suddenly felt the urge to thank Tony. Instead he voiced a separate thought with a soft smile.

“I love you too, Mr. Stark.”  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!


End file.
